"IT skills for all"

Last night we watched the edited video of the ICT club certificate presentations which took place on December 15th 2009. Walewale photgrapher Jacob has made quite a masterpiece of it with titles and music; thank you from us all. (Jacob, maybe we could put a clip from your video onto this blog?)
Let me just fill you in on how this all came about......

On our third day in Walewale, whilst out exploring, Mike and I stumbled upon the Community Information Centre and a charming young man named Mashood who worked there. During our chat he shared how the information centre had been equipped with 10 computers several months before, but after an initial flurry of interest, few students were using the facilities. There and then, a partnership was formed and we decided to try to involve some local schools and encourage the community to be more appreciative of this wonderful resource on their doorstep. Not being sure of the constraints of the timetable of the school day, we decided that an after school club might be the way forward.
I started building a relationship with the Head Teacher of the nearest school (LA Junior High School, literally a stone's throw away) and Mashood and I drafted a proposal for an after-school ICT club to present to her and the staff. Meanwhile, after a chat with Mike, Mashood had decided that Walewale needed its first website to promote the Community Information Centre and newly formed ICT Club. A tutorial (by candle light) ensued and Mashood learned how to create a blog. Walewale was now definitely on the map! Mike also suggested a logo, and in discussion the mission statement "IT Skills for All" was agreed for the freshly advertised club. Subsequently some members of the community expressed interest in the blog and two further new Walewale websites were born.
After some further consultation about what would work best, we agreed to avoid Market Days when the Junior High School students might be required to be selling items, and initial dates were agreed spanning the rest of the term. By this time, another equally charming young man called Mark had become involved. He was also working at the Community Information Centre. With three heads together things were beginning to come together and we realised we needed to involve the Chief Executive of the District Assembly and the Ghana Education Service, to make sure things were done properly.
Having had the initial proposal agreed by Head and Staff, we arranged to go and speak to the students at the local school to see if they were interested. We took with us a registration form for their parent/guardian to sign with a clearly marked return date! We were determined to get this thing off the ground and had already set a proposed start date for the following week.
The only stipulation for club membership was that we asked for an equal number of boys and girls from the JHS. Initially this was 10 of each to make a club of 20 members sharing the 10 computers (now dwindled down to 7 due to technical problems). This gender balance was important for my role with the TENI project (Tackling Educational Needs Inclusively, sponsored by Comic Relief). We were keen to see girls being given an equal opportunity and being actively encouraged to take part. We left the final selection of the students with completed forms to the school and we promised to run a waiting list where those who had missed out this time would get a chance. This was just as well as there was enormous interest and enthusiasm from the students.
Every student was given a baseline self assessment to complete so that we knew exactly where to pitch the teaching. The materials were then prepared by Mark and Mashood with reference to ICT books provided to the school by the Government. We agree that the club should train the students to be "ICT trainers" so that they could pass on their skills to others, consolidating their learning in the process. We decided that they should reach a certain standard by the end of the course and this would be assessed and celebrated with a certificate as evidence of the achievement.
October 27th arrived and three of the club turned up on time, despite earlier exhortations to be punctual! It then became part of my role to remind the students as they arrived and signed in, that coming half way through the Club meant a lot of catching up before next time. The first club had scarcely completed its first week when I was visited at 7am by a young man with his much younger sister. He explained how devastated she had been not to be picked for the club. I am a soft touch for young girls desperate to be given a chance to learn, so I knew I had to do something. After consulting Mark and Mashood and with some clever manipulation of dates, we were able to start a second club the following week with very nearly as many sessions as the first.

So, we now had 40 students, 20 girls and 20 boys being trained as ICT Trainers twice a week, between 3 and 4pm after school. We had agreed the Rules for the clubs together with the students so that they knew three consecutive "no shows" without good reason would result in them losing their place in the club. Mark and Mashood shared the teaching between them using PowerPoint and a projector (when available) or just "making do" when the internet was down and the computers were playing up. The students showed real ownership of their Clubs by electing a President for each (both of them girls as it happens) and requesting a celebratory club trip to Paga to stroke the crocodiles and even the possibility of ICT Club T shirts. They started saving 20 pesewas a week (about 8 pence) towards the trip.
I am delighted to say that after 16 sessions over 8 weeks, we retained 33 students to sit their final exam of competence to become ICT Trainers. Their time keeping was somewhat variable, but some of them were fantastic and arrived early for every session! Almost all the girls made it through to the end.
As the end of term approached, the students began to get excited about the certificate presentation ceremony we had promised them. They started to prepare a drama and practise a song ready for the big occasion.
So, we have a record of the final result which took place at the District assembly Hall with about 130 attendees. The presentation became a great occasion with Chairman and 2 MCs and guest of honour, a packed programme beginning with an Christian prayer and closing with a Muslim prayer. Thirty three proud students received well deserved certificates for their commitment and hard work over the previous 8 weeks.

It was a wonderful occasion, as was the trip to Paga. Twenty three students managed to afford the trip which was subsidised by a generous last minute donation of petrol by the District Assembly and a wonderful send off by the District Director of Education.

There were times when I felt a little discouraged by the time keeping and attendance. Also the absence of transport for the 100 plastic chairs we had hired for the big occasion left us with a headache until they were finally loaded on to motorbikes at 8 in the morning! (Thanks Fati and friends)

But, would I do it all again? Yes of course I would. We made a fantastic team and have big plans next term for helping the Junior High School 3 students achieve their ICT component in their BECE exams in April 2010.
Watch this space for the next installment.

Here is the song, sung by younger computer users, the "Brilliant Stars"....

UPDATE:

There are more images and videos about the ICT club, the presentation and the trip in an entry on this blog dated 14 January 2010.